


war outside our door

by ShyAudacity



Series: Riverdale Prompt Fills [21]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Fred Andrews-Centric, Fred Needs a Hug, Hiram is a Bad Man, Hurt Archie Andrews, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Leave Fred and Archie alone, Non-Graphic Violence, Other, Prompt Fill, Short & Sweet, Threats, Worried Fred, idk - Freeform, if that makes sense, like it happens but not in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 16:12:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14060628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyAudacity/pseuds/ShyAudacity
Summary: He calls Archie’s phone, minorly relieved when the call is answered right away.“Hello, Fred.”The relief leaves in a second; he knows that voice, doesn’t half to guess, but he does anyways.“Hiram? Where’s my son?”“Archie’s a little… tied up at the moment.”Fred’s blood runs cold, “What did you do to him?”“Nothing… yet, anyway.”ORanon said: Idk how you’d feel about this, but I’d love to see a fic where Hiram makes some threat against Archie’s life or makes it clear he’ll hurt him unless Fred drops out of the running for mayor and Fred is willing to do anything to protect him. Maybe Hiram would even go so far as to kidnap Archie until he has Fred’s word. And then lots of hurt/comfort with Fred being very shaken and upset.





	war outside our door

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure how I feel about this but I'm posting it anyway. 
> 
> Unbeta'd and title from Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift

Fred doesn’t realize until he gets home that night that he hasn’t seen Archie all day. When he’d gone in to wake him up for school, Archie was already gone, Fred just assumed that he’d left early to meet up with Veronica or finish some homework. But now, coming home to an empty house this late, something about it doesn’t feel right.

He calls Archie’s phone, minorly relieved when the call is answered right away.

_“Hello, Fred.”_

The relief leaves in a second; he knows that voice, doesn’t half to guess, but he does anyway.

“Hiram? Where’s my son?”

_“Archie’s a little… tied up at the moment.”_

Fred’s blood runs cold, “What did you do to him?”

_“Nothing… yet, anyway.”_

“What do you want from me? Why are you doing this?”

_“Drop out of the running for mayor. Do that and we’ll be even. Until then, I’ll keep Archie with me; consider it an incentive. You and I both know what the right choice is here, Fred.”_

The phone clicks off on the other end, and Fred doesn’t know who to call next Sheriff Keller or the Mayor's office. He goes with the Mayor's office, worried that getting the police involved might only make things worse. It’s ten o’clock at night, of course, so no one answers. He leaves a somewhat desperate message on the answering machine, hopes that someone sees it sooner than later.

He calls Archie’s phone again, speaks as soon as someone picks up.

“I want my son.”

_“Relax. You’ll get him back just as soon as everything has been verified… sit tight, Fred. This is going to be a long night.”_

“If you hurt him I swear-.” Fred curses under his breath when Hiram hangs up on him again.

He spends most of the night pacing around the living room, running to the front door every time that he hears a car drive by, hoping that one of them will pull into his driveway and let his son out.

How? How could he have let this happen? Fred knew that Archie had been slipping away from him lately, took Hiram’s side over his in the case of building a prison where Southside High once was. He knows that Hiram is a dangerous, devious man, has been since high school. But this? Fred never took Hiram as the kind of man that would go after someone’s child just to get what he wants.  

Somewhere around six in the morning, Fred wakes up on the couch, the sound of an engine purring in his driveway having pulled him out of a restless sleep. He rushes outside, clothes rumpled from the day before. There’s a sleek black car in his driveway, Hiram Lodge stands near the back door, dressed in a suit, looking presentable as always.

 _I have half a mind to lay him out right now,_ Fred thinks to himself.

“Where’s my son?”

Hiram smirks at him.

“You know, I got the most interesting phone call from the Mayor’s office a little while ago.”

“Where’s _my son_?” Fred repeats, clenching his fists at his sides.

Hiram doesn’t respond other than to roll his eyes. He opens the back door, all but yanks Archie out of the car by the back of his sweatshirt.

Archie’s hands are tied behind his back, looks like he’s having trouble keeping his head- his whole body upright. The glazed over look in his eye is worrying; Fred can’t help but notice how he’s not putting any weight on his left foot.

_He hurt my son… I’m gonna kill him._

Hiram spits out, “I told you what would happen if you tried to defy me, Fred.”

Hiram lets go of the back of Archie’s shirt, and Fred has to lunge forward just to keep him from hitting the ground at full force. He holds Archie against his chest, one arm around his waist and his free hand on the side of Archie’s neck. Fred sticks his nose in the mess of Archie’s hair, speaks quietly in his ear.

“Hey, hey, Arch. I’m here. I got you.”

Looking up, he watches the car back out of the driveway, leaving like they’d never been there in the first place. It takes him a second to come back to reality, but Fred unties the knots binding his son together, whispers useless words that are meant to comfort himself more than Archie. He sits there on the rough cement, cradling his son his lap who has yet to make a sound.

_I have to get him out of this town… we are not safe here anymore. I can’t protect him like I used to._

At some point, Archie pushes himself out of Fred’s hold just to release the contents of his stomach, the only sign he’s shown of actually being conscious. They can’t keep sitting here, someone is going to see them and get curious. Fred helps him up, practically carries him inside the house.

They go to the couch, Archie curls himself into a fetal position almost immediately. Fred pulls a blanket over his frame, then settles a hand in Archie’s hair, trying to give him a sense of comfort. Fred sits on the floor in front of the couch, never once taking his eyes off his son.

“Nothing like this is ever gonna happen again, Archie,” He says. “I’m gonna keep you safe… I promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> Why is everything I write both sad and sappy? Who knows.
> 
> Prompts/comments/kudos are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading my fic, have a great day!


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